In that very moment
by Skrain Dukat
Summary: Grissom wakes up in a cold sweat, at that very same moment his doorbell rings. GSR angst and fluff at a very basic level.


Sara Sidle's silky, slim form barely stirred the sheets as she slept. Gilbert Grissom lay next to her, watching her chest rise and fall with each breath, counting his blessings as the motion slowly lulled him to sleep.

He did not dream for the first time in months.

A few hours earlier...

Grissom awoke, screaming, in cold sweat, Sara's screams fresh in his ears. "Oh, God," he whispered, "why do I keep-" he was interrupted by his doorbell. "Who could that be?" He sat there on his bed, motionless, for a moment, trying to catch his breath. The doorbell rang again, and he called out, "Hold on, I'm coming!" as he slid off the bed and pulled a pair of jeans and a tee shirt on. He made his way through the darkness, out into his kitchen. Again, the doorbell rang. "I'm coming, I'm coming!" he called again, walking up the steps to his front door. The doorbell just kept ringing, followed by someone pounding on his door. "Who is it?!"

He opened the door, only to find Sara standing there, barely covered by a thin, ratty sheet she clutched tightly around her small form. She was visibly bruised and shaking. "Sara?" he asked, his face changing from confusion to worry.

She sobbed and threw her arms around him, "Gil..."

"What happened?" Grissom asked, wrapping his arms around the obviously terrified woman.

"I- I-" she stammered, sobbing, "sleeping- falling- someone standing- in my room- falling- I-" she buried her face in his shoulder. Gil pulled her inside, gently, and closed the door, leading her over to the couch, taking special care not to let her go or stare when her sheet loosened and began to fall down her slender form.

"What happened, Sara? Shhh, it's okay, I'm here, you're safe," he soothed, leaning away from her just enough to make eye contact.

Sara looked away. "I'm- I don't know. It all happened so quickly. I had a bad dream, I guess, fell out of bed, hit my face on the night stand," she explained, absentmindedly touching her black eye tenderly. Grissom noticeably winced. "It's bad, I take it?" Sara asked, beginning to calm down. The fear Grissom had seen was all but melted away. Grissom nodded. Sara rested her head against his chest and closed her eyes.

What Sara had said was just now sinking in. "Wait, there was a man in your room?" A twinge of jealousy and heartbreak audible in his voice. Sara shook her head softly, listening to his heartbeat.

"I don't know. It could very well have been a dream. I didn't get a decent look, I-" Sara was embarrassed, and the depth of what Grissom had said was just starting to sink in, "I just wrapped up and ran straight here." Grissom gave her an amused look, even though his mind had drifted back to the nightmare he himself had just woken from. "Gil, even if there was a man in my room, it wasn't like I INVITED anyone over!" There was hurt in Sara's voice.

Grissom shook his head. He didn't know what he'd been thinking. 'I guess her inviting someone over is less frightening than someone breaking in,' he thought, holding her tightly.

Ever since Sara had returned from burying the skeletons of her past, she'd been cold and distant. It had eventually caused Gil to question her feelings for him, which brought on an extreme argument, followed by Sara moving out, claiming she needed her space. He, heartbroken, did nothing to try to stop her.

"I'm sorry, Gil."

"What?" he asked, surprised. Sara pulled away from him and looked at the floor, tugging her sheet tighter around her body.

"I'm sorry, Gil. For everything. I don't know what my problem was. I didn't mean to make you think I was cheating. Really, I didn't." Her hair fell down around her face, framing it in an incredibly sad silhouette. Grissom's heart rose, so fragile and hopeful it made his eyes teary. It'd broken when Sara had walked out on him.

"Sara, listen-" he started, not wanting to get his hopes up. She was vulnerable. He didn't want to take advantage.

"I was falling apart, Gil. The fact that you thought I had it in me to betray your trust made me die inside, knowing that I had hurt you so much in my pain. I never meant to hurt you, Gil." She looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

The sun's first rays were beginning to shine through the window as Gil took Sara's hands in his own. "Sara," he started, "I was afraid I lost you. I would-" he paused, "listen, we both are shaken, and we both need sleep. We can kick Hank off the bed and sort our feelings out in the morn-" He was interrupted by Sara pulling him down and kissing him, hard and passionate.

Surprised, he fought at first, then slowly gave in to the sweet bliss that was kissing Sara Sidle. When their lips finally parted, Sara ran her hand through his hair and down his cheek. "I promise I will never leave you again," she whispered.

Grissom smiled. That was all he needed to hear. He traced her lips with his finger before standing and helping her up. "We should get some sleep now, we do have work later.

They made their way back toward the bedroom. Gil chuckled.

"What?" Sara asked, smiling and yawning.

"Did you _really_ run all the way here wrapped in a sheet?"

Sara shook her head, grinning. They'd picked up just where they'd left off, giving each other a particular look, full of yearning, full of longing, but most of all, full of hope. Both just wanted everything to be back to normal.

As they got into bed, Sara kissed Gil goodnight, a short, soft press of her lips to his cheek.

Gil watched Sara fall asleep, held her like a teddy bear and a lover while she ascended into her dreamworld. But his own journey into sleep was like sinking in killer quicksand while being slowly devoured by fire ants and having his bones dipped into acid.

He fought a desperate battle to stay awake, to stay with Sara, where she was alive and well, sleeping peacefully beside him. But he could not fight the darkness.

_He was at his desk in the crime lab, playing with a favored pet tarantula when Warrick Brown ran in, yowling. "What's wrong?" Gil asked. He learned that Sara was in danger. Warrick and she had been processing a scene when two large, burly men overpowered them and took her at gunpoint._

Grissom had been through this countless times through the previous months.

_They were demanding that Clark County give them an extensively large sum of money--_

Every time he closed his eyes he was thrust into the same problem.

_--Or they'd rape and kill her on a live video feed._

Grissom tossed in his sleep, groaning as though in pain. Sara stirred, opening her eyes a little. "Gil?" she murmured.

_Somehow, the team blamed him for what had happened to Sara. Greg especially. Moments after Warrick, Greg burst in, hollering at him._

Grissom was sweating profusely, his face contorted in frustration. He was mumbling unintelligibly. Sara sat up, staring at him, afraid to touch him. "Gil?"

_Somehow, night after night, he wound up in a car, chasing Sara's captors, but never quite catching them. His phone would ring, and he would flip it open to reveal that a video message had been received. _

Grissom was convulsing in his cold sweat. Every molecule in his body was trying to wake him up, to no avail. He was also groaning and shouting, "NO! PLEASE! DON'T HURT HER! SARA-- SARA!" Sara reached across the bed for the phone. She was scared that something was wrong.

_Shaking like he did every time, he hit "view message." Sara's face, frightened and small, appeared on the screen. As she was every night, she was bound and gagged. There were people talking, her unseen attackers._

Grissom's body and mind were at full blown war, both trying to wake him up.

_Sara screamed. Blood spatter hit the camera that had filmed the attack. More screams, so much blood. Screams that curdled Grissom's blood, the screams that haunted him in his waking hours. He no longer was paying attention to his driving, didn't notice the tree he crashed into nightly. _

_Speeding toward it, he didn't look up until it was too late-_

He awoke, screaming, tears running down his face, his heart pounding. He was sitting upright, his feet dangling off the edge of the bed. He held his head in his hands as he caught his breath as he cried.

"Grissom?" Sara whispered. Gil jerked his head up, looking at her, embarrassed. "What was that? Are you all right?" she placed her hands tenderly on his shoulders, fearing that he could break.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."

"You had a bad dream, I know you couldn't help it. I just want to know that you're all right."

Grissom was taken aback. How loud had he been? Surely she had no idea what was going on.

"You looked like you were having a seizure at first, I was about to call 911, are you sure you're okay?" Sara asked, worried. Gil finally turned around and hugged her, holding her tightly against his body. He needed to know for sure that she was really there. Logic dictated that she was, but he was human. He was a scientist. He needed reassurance.

"It's-" he started, trying to think how to word it, "the same dream I've been ever since Natalie nearly killed you that night in the desert." He couldn't rememeber any specifics about the dream, they always disappeared right upon waking. "All I can remember is blood. So much blood. And you screaming, echoing screaming."

Sara sighed and rested her head on his shoulder, holding him as tight as he was holding her. She closed her eyes and listened to their heartbeats, beating out of time with one another. "Do you hear that?" she asked, finally.

"Hear what?" Gil whispered.

"Our hearts, they're beating as one."

Gil smiled softly. "It's a sound I've missed every day you've been gone." He stroked her soft brown hair.

"I cherish it, the sound of our hearts. It's a constant reminder to me that you're the only one who's ever been there, living there."

The two scientists looked longingly into each others' eyes, and slowly leaned in for the most passionate kiss they'd shared yet.

As they kissed, they slowly sank back down into their pillows. When their lips finally parted, Grissom held Sara and stroked her hair as they both drifted off, together, into a blissful, dreamless sleep.

The end.


End file.
